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Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday refused to step down amid widespread anti-government protests which he said had tarnished the image of his country.

In his first major speech since unrest began, Gaddafi said the whole world looked up to Libya and that the protesters were "serving the devil". He added he would not leave the country and would "die a martyr".

An angry Gaddafi said that he had brought glory to Libya. As he had no official position from which to resign, he would remain the head of the revolution, he said.

He blamed the unrest on "cowards and traitors" who were seeking to portray Libya as a place of chaos and to "humiliate" Libyans.

The protesters had been given drink and drugs, he stated.

He called on "those who love Muammar Gaddafi" to come on to the streets in support of him, telling them not to be afraid of the "gangs".

"Come out of your homes, attack them in their dens. Withdraw your children from the streets. They are drugging your children, they are making your children drunk and sending them to hell," he said. "He said that the rioters are "led by the followers of bin Laden," and accused protesters they "want to turn Libya into an Islamic state .. a new Afghanistan."

He added: "If matters require, we will use force, according to international law and the Libyan constitution." He also reviewed the Libyan penal code, mentioning the death sentence against those who raise arms against the state.

He said that the protests were following "the pattern of what happened in Egypt and Tunisia," and that "the dead were policemen, soldiers and young men and not the instigators."